I've had this phone for about 9 months now and overall it is a very good phone. Service and call quality is good (sometimes I don't get calls). One thing I hat however is the now generic Verizon interface. It is boring and the menu color schemes look bad. However, the camera in this phone is great considering it is on a phone. Most of my pics are clear and once cleared up on Photoshop, come out great. The build quality of the phone is slightly above average. I have dropped it numerous times and today it fell in a pool. After all of this it still works. The two build problems I have are that dust is getting inside the screens, and rarely used buttons are wearing out. However, a few of my friends have had this phone longer than me and have never had these problems. Even though this is a great phone, I will probably turn to Cingular when my contract ends just because of the better phones I can use with Cingular(most verizon phones are flimsy pieces of garbage). Anyway, if you're in the market for a midrange phone with some unique styling and want to use Verizon, this is a great example.

I have no issues with the phone's performance, except for the quality of the camera's pictures. They are horrible. You have to be in the perfect light, the subject has to be completely still, and you might get a half-way decent picture. But most of the pics I have taken have been horrible and I didn't save 80% of them, they were just too blurry.

After getting myself a new VX8700, I picked up a new VX8300 for my girlfriend. The VX8300 is not the prettiest or thinest phone Verizon offers, but it seems to be one of their best performers. Sound quality, speakerphone, RF, and battery life all seem very good. The camera takes decent pictures. It has just about all the features you expect in a phone today too. With a new contract, you can get it for $50 or less. At this price, I give it 5 stars.

Unlike most who use voice command features, the mp3 player, and the camera/movie taker on most cell phones I don't use any of these functions. I use the camera on an occasional basis but nothing further than that. My only problem with this phone is that when you get picture/text messages from people don't know then it wears down the phones battery. Above all it's a phone which is meant to be used to call family/friends. My only concern is like most phones my battery wears out really quick. So besides the battery I'm happy with the phone.

I just replaced my old Samsung a670 flip phone with this one. I loved the size and style of the Samsung, and the LG seemed to be a knock-off in the style, which I liked. The LG has pretty much the same keys and layout, but with many more features. The music player is the biggest advantage. It's a solid phone, that can take a beating. It is a bit ugly, but acceptable. The speakerphone works great, as well as the voice command system, which does not require you to record people's names in your voice. You can operate just about any feature of the phone by voice command.

It also plays your own movies. It's great as a phone, not a whole you can improve on there. Calls work fine, speakerphone, bluetooth, etc etc. But did you know this thing can play your own DVD, TV and home shows and movies? Do a search for LG VX8300 tips and you will find the instructions. It's fairly simple, convert your media to avi with pan and scan on, then convert to PG2 high quality on in QCIF format. You must use the QCIF format converter or the movie will be choppy and not play right. Then copy the new video file over to the phones 2GB micro card (which you bought right?) and there you go!

Sure, the movie is small, but believe it or not its not bad at all for viewing and comes in handy when on the road, at a restraunt with food running late and your kid just needs a break to get off your nerves. I have half a dozen full length movies and tv shows on mine which take up about half of the 2GB card. Not bad!

Other things that people don't touch on much on their reviews on this phone.

The phones camera does have a movie mode, it will record movies as long as you have space on your external card. The video isn't that great, but works and records sound as well.

Photos are decent enough, and on highest quality if you have the right lighting and a steady hand they can be good enough to be printed decently on a good inkjet at 4x6.

Cons:

- When you take a picture you have to select 'Save' after to save it. I hate this, just save it automatically and I'll delete it later. Same with movies. Its an extra unneeded step.
- Needs more base ring tones, but since you can make your own and save it to the sd card to use its not a huge deal.
- No Vibrate then Ring option


VX6100, take a hike! Time for a new phone! After some browsing of online reviews and whatnot, I finally decided on the VX8300 for my new phone from Verizon.

BOY that was a smart choice!

First of all, all the old LG accessories - like chargers and data cables - are 100% compatible with the new VX8300. You don't need a "music essentials kit" if you want to play music. You can either use an old modified USB data cable from an old LG phone, or you can transfer songs onto a MicroSD card using a reader. You don't need to buy tones or wallpapers, just use Bluetooth (or again, USB) and BitPim just like you did with the old LG phones. You don't need to spend money emailing camera photos either, just use the MicroSD card and the phone's "storage" menu to transfer between your internal memory and the MicroSD card.

The "LG Handfree Stereo Headset for the LG Chocolate and other compatible LG handsets" (search for: B000HZZIGO) is the perfect companion to this phone. It, plus headphones (NOT earbuds, blech!) are 100 times superior to the Music Essentials Kit. It, plus a tape adapter, is all the handsfree car kit you would ever need - the phone has a built-in echo canceler for full duplex car-stereo speakerphone operation, even in the oldest of cars. Phone rings while it's playing your music through the stereo, you push the button, and when you hang up, it goes right back to music automatically.

I didn't even know it had an MP3 limitation. I did have a problem putting my MP3s on the phone at first, but it turns out that was because it didn't like MP3s with long ID3V2 tags (esp. tags with cover art embedded). It plays MP3s fine as long as you remove the ID3V2 tags (I use Mp3tag to remove ID3V2 tags and leave ID3V1). Otherwise you get the dreaded "Unable to play" message. It does support WMAs of course, and I found that WMA offers better compression as well as cover-art tagging (shows the cover image while the song plays, hello iPod!), so I converted most of my on-phone music to WMA and added JPEG cover art - I saved a lot of space with that.

The speakers are great. The phone is incredible. If you get VZ Navigator, a very worthwhile investment, you have the world's best navigation system in your hands. It can get you from point A to point B with pinpoint accuracy, and never miss a turn either. Forget buying a navigation system, just use VZ Navigator! It costs a little extra... like 10 bucks for a "subscription" (not sure what that implies) plus some airtime. Still haven't looked at the bill to see what all it ended up costing.

Without a doubt the best phone LG has made to date. Better than Chocolate. Verizon tried to skimp on features and chop this phone down to size but they failed miserably at ruining it, so their loss is your gain! Grab one. Seriously.

Oh... and that modification I mentioned earlier? Just cut out the center bump in older LG cables, the bump that prevents you from plugging it in. The wiring is identical. I think it was just a marketing trick to get you to buy new accessories. Your old car charger will work, your old data cable will work, your old car kit should work too if you're so inclined to have one. Talk about a dirty trick!

I love this phone!!! The pics are awesome. This phone does everything, I am telling all my family and friends GO OUT AND GET ONE!! You will not be sorry, I traded a Treo for this and I don't regret a thing. Super User Friendly!!!

The LG VX8300 is the best phone I have ever owned. Its features are outstanding and looks great. I was a Sprint customer and dissatisfied with their lack of good phones--the signal/service, however, is pretty comparable at least where I live.

The camera does have some trouble in low light, and the flash doesn't seem to help all that much. The camcorder is a nice feature, and it will record as long as you wish if you have a MicroSD card.

The MP3 player works well. You can text yourself <30 second MP3 ringtones (search on the web), but you can't use the MP3's on your MicroSD card as ringtones. I have not gotten a stereo headset yet, but I plan to very soon.

The speakerphone is clear, and I don't get any complaints from the other side. However I do wish you could close the hinge and still talk on speaker.

Battery life is great. It can go a few days before needing a recharge, and that's if I use the MP3 player, speakerphone, etc.

The menu is intuitive and easy-to-use, and you can select from six different display themes. The buttons are raised and far enough apart that you can dial without looking.

I have not tried Bluetooth yet.

Overall, this is the phone I have been looking for. The reception is great, and I have dropped perhaps one call in a very "dead" area. I would and have recommended this phone to my friends and family.

I have owned cell phones since the time of "the Brick," and 10 models in between. Now that coverage is excellent in most of the country (mountains are still a problem in this neck of the woods), if you want a phone to make phone calls, this is probably a little better than most. It is certainly more durable than the Razr.

The pluses: Good reception for the most part; great speaker phone (better than my wired office phones); good display.

The minuses: The handbook that comes with it is 37 pages long. Anything after page 4 costs money. Send out five high res pictures, and you run into real money. And it may be an MP3 player of sorts, but at $2 a song, I'll stick with my iRiver or iPod.

The long and short of it. After looking for a year for a phone that just made phone calls, this is what we chose. I don't need the camera, but now you have no choice. With special incentives from Verizon - probably because we've been with them for 3 years - the total cost was the retail tax for two phones. Everything else was a mail in or instant rebate.

Four stars because it's a fairly good phone, and I've given up on persuading anyone under 50 that they still need a wired phone especially when you want to talk to more than one person at a time. Yeah, the speaker phone is great, but so sensitive that it'll pick up ambient noise so that I can hear people who are 15 feet away from it.

Great Reception and Sound Quality. Blue Tooth works great. MP3 Player works well once you get used to Verizon's software. I also use Verizon's GPS Navigation on this LG instead of a $350 Garmin. Added a 2GB microSD card that holds 1400 wma files. This phone does everything, and it does it all very well. Best Phone I've ever had.

I found, after much searching and discussion with various Verizon people, that you do NOT need the Music Essentials kit to play your own music on this phone. You simply need to format the Micro SD memory card (just a few quick clicks with your phone), then remove the card and insert it w/ adapter into your PC, then drag the music files onto the "My Music" folder that shows up when you bring up the window for the drive that reads the card. However, you either need to do with with .wma files and windows Media Player version 10 or 11, or else set up the phone to allow .mp3 files--see earlier review on how to do this. Good luck!

...I have had several LG phones thru Verizon. I got the VX8300 for free as an upgrade. I went with it over a Motorola because of LG's quality. It has great reception and terrific battery life. The camera is better than most and the phone feels solid. It's loaded with features, but most of them I find useless. I suppose I am not in Verizon's V-Cast demographics at 52 yrs. old, but I will never understand why anyone would need their phone to play music or stream video. Like 99% of the people on this planet, I have an iPod. Why would I need the same ability on my phone? Besides Verizon requires you to buy special headphones and if you are a Mac user, like me, then you can not import songs from iTunes. Buying music from V-Cast is TWICE what iTunes charges. The Mobile Web feature is wonderfully practical, however. For only $5 a month I can check news, sports scores and email. And it is extremely fast! If you want all the bells and whistles this is a excellent phone.

OK here's the deal with this phone. I just got it yesterday, and all in all, it's a 7 on a scale of 1-10. It has the best speakers and sound quality of all non-MP3 dedicated phones (meaning the Chocolate and others like it). You do not have to convert MP3's into WMA's anymore. That makes it really nice. Sound quality on the speakerphone is very good too, from both ends. Nice to have MP3 functions on the outside of the phone also. Forget the "music essentials" kit that Verizon says you need. It's not essential. All you need is the memory card (Transflash, also called T-Flash) and a reader/writer. Format the card on the phone, pop it out of the phone, into the reader/writer, put the USB part of the reader/writer into your computer's USB hub, the computer does the rest. Click, Copy, and Paste your MP3 files over to the My Music folder of the memory card and away you go. You cannot makes these songs into ringtones though, the phone will not allow you to copy them to the ringtone menu. There is a website called Freeringers.net that lets you make your own, edit them down, and send them to your phone via a MM from the website. Costs whatever it would as a normal message on your service plan, plus a one time fee for the website (8 bucks for one year is CHEAP!!!!) It even allows you to test your phone for compatibility before you pay for it.

Now for the not so good features. The video and camera features come out WAYYYY too dark when you are taking a shot from a few feet away or in a bar/club, even with the flash on. My Motorola actually took better pictures, it's scary to say. The voice command feature on this phone is HORRIBLE when trying to recognize names. I get everyone BUT the person I need. Again, I never had a problem with this on my last Motorola phone. It's nice to be able to reprogram the shortcut keys, but you can only program the keys on the main wheel...not the left and right soft keys under the inside screen. That's rough cuz I am used to buttons on my last phone performing certain functions. You have to leave the flip open to use the speakerphone, which makes it hard to handle while driving and I hate bluetooth adapters. Also, you cannot program the phone to turn off the speaker automatically after, say, 20 secs of non use, like my last one.

Phone sound quality is no better or worse than any other one I have had. Reception seems fine so far, except I see when I am in my house, I go into the 1X quite a lot instead of the EV-DO. Never did that with my last phones either.

So all in all, I am going to wait the full 15 days for my trial period, but so far, it looks like a keeper. I have never really had a problem with Verizon from a customer service end after being with them for a year. I was with Cingular for 15 years before switching. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I still have to play with the phone more and get to know its "guts". I just wanted to let everyone know about the main things cuz I have been looking at get this phone for the last 4 months. I am not disappointed, but I am not overly thrilled either.

first off Ronald is 100% wrong on the MP3 function.
YOU do need to purchase from VCAST or buy the kit. you can purchase a Micro SD card and a card reader. then transfer the songs to the card. OR you can purchase a data cable (look on ebay for them cheap) and transfer them.

i suggest getting a card reader. it is far faster.

as for the ringtones yes there are only a few. but do a search on the phone and there are sites that show you how to make a MP3 ringtone and put it on the SD card.

I LOVE this phone. just need to get myself a good bluetooth headset and some headphones.



I replaced an old LG candy-bar phone with the VX8300, it's a good replacement (considering) but the MP3 performance is just not acceptable. I've heard better quality from key chain players that cost $9. The volume level is too low and it has no bass at all when driving earbuds (Sony MDREX90LP). It does sound good when driving a cassette adapter (XM) in the car so that's how I'll be using it.

It's just not so hot for the office.

When my previous phone broke I just wanted a phone that made calls. However, these days it's difficult to get a simple cell phone. I was originally afraid of getting a phone with so many features because the phone software becomes so complicated that the basic phone functions become problematic. A previous phone crashed more often than my computer operating system. Fortunately, this phone has lasted six months without any trouble.

This is a great phone with lots of extras. The other reviews are correct, the speakers are loud and clear. You do need a special adapter or special headphones to listen to music. You can get certain blue tooth headsets that will allow you to listen to the music through them.

The main reason why I wanted to write a review is because you do not have to pay for verizon's music to listen to it on the phone. A Verizon Wireless store will upgrade the phone to the newest firmware version and you can play MP3s. Then you can use a MicroSD card with MP3s on it.

I decided on this phone after months of research, and have been quite happy with my purchase. MP3 playback is great, and you can forget about paying for the Verizon music kit- just get a MicroSD memory card instead. They're suprisingly cheap, and the phone handles cards up to 2gb. You just stick the card in your computer/reader, and use it like you would a regular flash drive. After you drag and drop your mp3s into a folder and put the card back in your phone you're good to go. You can do this for pictures (and videos!) too, and won't have to worry about running out of space.

The primary reason I got this phone was for the camera, and it works beautifully. While you can't expect the world of a 1.3mp camera, it does an admirable job at taking photos with decent sharpness, color detail, and clarity (see my "customer image"). I'd recommend shooting at the highest resolution and then resizing by 50% in a photo editor for optimal quality. You can also turn off the shutter sound, as well as take photos while the phone is still closed.

Another great feature is the GPS navigation option. While the extra $10/month or $3/day seems pricey at first, it's well worth it. It's extremely handy when you're trying to find an address (especially in a city with hard to see street names). It'll also automatically recalculate your route on the fly if you miss a turn.

Battery life is great, and you'll get several days of regular use out of it (talking, web surfing, etc) without having to recharge.

On the downside, Verizon doesn't support much in the way of open standards- so you don't get any java programs/games, and can't run the full featured mobile gmail program or the opera web browser. That's by no means a dealbreaker though! I highly recommend this phone.

I love this phone. The ring tones and graphics in the phone when you buy it are decent. The phone is easy to use. I like the short cuts and the button placement. The only semi-negative thing I'd say about the phone is that the speaker phone button is right under the clear button. I text a lot and have hit the speaker phone buttong instead of clear a dozen times since I got it yesterday. I did a lot of research into the other verizon phones and I chose this one. I can't really comment on the extras like v-cast because I don't use them. My mother got the lg 5300 b/c it was free with verizon and it didn't have the extras that she did not want. That's a good phone too. My favorite things about this phone:
*You can choose to have a picture come up on the outside when someone calls.
*It is user-friendly.
*The speaker phone and ring tones are LOUD if you want them loud.
*It is inexpensive no matter where you get it- amazon or verizon.

I was a little skeptical about reprogramming the phone to play MP3s but found out from another blog that this is no longer the case. Within the last month or so, LG quit disabling the MP3 player function. I purchased a microSD card and reader from Amazon and dragged music to the music folder without a problem and without using the V-cast music essentials kit. Playback is just great. If using a hands free headset, music pauses during the call and resumes when you are finished.


Good phone. Call quality is good. Speaker phone is not great; many times I had to ask the other party to repeat.

1. My previous Nokia had a feature to warn me whenever I hit a button that involves extra charges (like browsing etc.). It also has an option to turn this feature on/off.
But, this LG doesn't have any such feature to warn me. There are at least three or four menu options which, as soon as selected, will happily start data exchange which may result in extra charges depending on your plan.

2. Contacts can be grouped into Family, Friends, Business etc. But, whose bright idea was it to limit 10 contacts per group? Hello?!

2a. You can't assign arbitrary text to contacts. Nokia had a note field where you can jot down anything you want. Had been useful to store street addresses for some of them.

3. You have seen other complaints about Verizon here. Most of them are true and Verizon could be a little bit more graceful (OBEX/ring tones/warn if extra charges).

4. Has a lock feature to keep young ones from making calls; but, this is not same as Key Guard; still 911 is allowed to go thru (lock feature can be enabled by pressing # for 2 seconds which three different Verizon associates were unaware of and one of them owns this phone.)

5. Another user has explained below how he takes a picture and then immediately transfers to memory card. There is an option to directly store pictures (and other objects like music, video) in memory card instead of phone.

6. Somehow I feel that there is only limited option you can configure. People who fine tune their gadgets may be disappointed.

7. I still haven't figured out how to configure email. I select email option and it starts connecting right-away.

8. Voice commands works surprisingly well. But, when a contact has more than one phone stored, by voice command you can only call the default number.

Even though I do not plan to switch carrier (have had Verizon for more than five years now) some how do not like this phone (and the way it has been programmed by Verizon). Most probably I'll return it.


I got this phone about 10 days ago, an upgrade from my LG 6100, which I didn't want to part with but it was starting to look shabby after less than 2 years. The 8300 does more than what the 6100 could do, of course, but I am not into VCast or downloading ringtones, music, etc. I just wanted a better camera because I was sick of the somewhat blurry pix from the 6100. And I didn't want to move into the blackberry realm. The 8300 is not as easy to use as the 6100 in terms of accessing text messages. I liked the shortcut buttons on my old phone. This phone has shortcut buttons to things you will be charged for, like get it now, on-line and vcast--but there is a nice looking calendar short cut.
Pros:
1. same or better speakerphone, with a designated speakerphone button
2. same tools from the 6100 (calculator, tip calculator--both extremely useful)
3. voice recognition dialing (no charge--I switched from Cingular because they wanted to charge for that capability)
4. better camera
5. battery charges very quickly
6. I'm excited about what I can do with the micro secure disc (maybe put music on there without downloading it)

Cons:
1. More buttons you have to press to get to certain lists/functions
2. not a big ringer selection, but it had the one I used to use, so I'm happy.
3. no cover for the camera like the 6100, but no cellphones have these--I'm worried about scratching the lens up in my pocket.
4. cant have phone ring and vibrate together like the 6100.

Trying to pick a new cellphone is always challenging because it's such an important tool that becomes a part of your life. I feel confident the 8300 will be fine till the next best thing comes along next year.


First of all if you have an unlimited budget for the cell and can afford all-inclusive service plan don't read any further. Otherwise my experience will hopefully be helpful. Also, as it is Verizon-only-compliant cell phone it'd be fair to evaluate VX8300 and Verizon together.

- In general the phone seems to be ok but calls do occasionally drop.
- Menu has some hidden/intrusive options i.e. you press the wrong button you get charged.
- Bluetooth functionaly is converted to Verizon's needs. There's no conformance to the Standard.
- Be aware of Verizon plans - no rollover minutes, free national in-calling turned out to be valid for calls from other verizon customers only
- customer service is ok at least you don't spend a lot of time on hold but non of the problems were ever resolved.

Pros:
- Sleek design
- Micro SD card slot
- Camera
- Reception (yes, so far it's better than T-Mobile or Cingular).

Cons:
- Verizon's service plans, surcharges and inability to understand that 1.99$ per ringtone looks not just pure funny but shows the company treats its customers as retards.
- Intrusive menu
- Cramped bluetooth
- multiple hidden codes and locks in various phone menus.

Summary
- always read the small print!
- quest for the perfect cellular provider continues.

I guess I should start off my saying that I've had to pair this phone to my old Imac, running OSX 10.3.9. On top of that, I've read (and witnessed) that the standard bluetooth file exchange has been removed as an option. That said, I've been able to find some other methods that will allow me to
1 Pair the phone with my Mac
2 set up my own ringers
3 Sync (sort of) the phone's calander, with my gmail calander (iCal file)
4 play my Mp3's
With my set-up, and you'll have to do some internet searching to figure out how to do this, you'll likely need, at least, software for file transfers (free online, rhymes with witdim:), a MicroSD card ($), a card reader for you PC (very cheap), and if your computer isn't already bluetooth capable (as mine wasn't), a bluetooth dongle (do research to get the correct one). I did this all for about 70 bucks. The phone was free, so I guess it was worth it.

Ok, so in the end, because I was able to do all this with some effort, I think it's a great phone. If you do nothing to upgrade it, I'd say that it is probably a decent phone, with garbage ringers. I would have to guess that Verizon did this so that you'll buy some through VCAST.

I'd give it 5 stars if not for all the work I had to do to get the phone to work the way I want it to. So there you go. Be frustrated, then enjoy.

The phone is reasonable however it can be tough to hear sometimes. The earpiece that I bought through Amazon.com is worse. I can't hear much of anything through it. I like the features but doing simple things isn't as intuitive as with my last motorola. The phone gets about a 3 and verizon gets a 1. Only because I can't give them zero.

Whereas the phone overall is decent, I will say that the service I've received through verizon is the worst I've ever had with a cell phone service. THe signal is good, but trying to get these people to honor their rebate commitment is like pulling teeth. After spending about 10 hours on the phone between Amazon.com and Verizon, I am probably going to cancel the service altogether. Tmobile has better service and I never had a problem when I called htem up. I've spoke to about 7 service reps at Verizon and most of them are rude and some will hang up on you. I was warned when I switched that I'd have a problem if I ever needed to call Verizon and they weren't kidding. It's been a nightmare.


I just purchased this phone about two weeks ago and LG has pruduced another great one! This phone is small but easy for someone with big hands to work, has a good camera, great battery life, and great reception. If you've had LGs in the past this one fits the bill. I've had the 6100 and 8100 before and this one is just as good. It also has a good speakerphone. Highly recommend. I was looking at the Razr or Krzr but when I talked with the Verizon traveling sales guys this is the phone they all use-along with their families so that must say something.

If you're looking for a top-notch piece of equipment that is first and foremost a good phone, but doesn't sacrifice some fun features, this is the way to go. I spent quite a bit of time comparing this with the Motorola RAZR V3m, and decided on the LG for some very key reasons: 1. Better battery life 2. Brighter screen (though smaller than RAZR) 3. Camera WITH flash (not great, but it's there) 4. More comfortable key pad 5. Externally accessible MicroSD slot 6. Standard headphone jack with no adapter needed

The above elements combined with the fact that, hey, the RAZR isn't that "cool" anymore since everyone's grandmother now has one, led me to go LG. After also owning a Motorola V330 GSM phone that I did like, I am so far more impressed with LG's quality.

The VX8300 is a little large compared with some phones these days, but it feels a bit more durable than phones like the RAZR and KRZR. The gun-metal gray is also a very stylish color.

I have not found any cons to this phone yet, though many people complain about Verizon's propriety operating system and locking out some basic features of the phone. These things don't matter to me, as pictures and videos can easily be PIX messaged off the phone or saved to the MicroSD card (which you will have to purchase separately).

Now, if you're all into ring tones, wallpapers, etc., this phone or Verizon in general, may frustrate you. However, if you want a good product with good features and excellent reception and sound quality as well as ring volume, I strongly recommend this phone.

And buying from Amazon is the way to go, particularly if you want a one-year contract without getting penalized on the price of the phone.

Also, my encounters with Verizon customer service have so far been excellent, and I have not waited on hold for long when I've called.

Note: Be prepared for a large first-time bill if you do buy a Verizon phone from here. They will charge you for a partial period starting the day the transaction goes through, then a full month in advance in addition to your activation fee, if it isn't waived.

So I'm pseudo-techno-geek. I love the tech, but ultimately give into the practicality. That said, I needed a new phone for work and the geek in me immediately was drawn to a myriad of phones that had good gadgets (mp3, camera/video playback, bluetooth, etc..). The more I looked, the more I had to prioritize my needs. I wanted a phone that had good clear connections and had MAN-BUTTONS!

Pros:

-Good sized, easy to use buttons
-Average call quality
-Average menu setup
-Includes 1.3 mp cam/video
-Ability to onboard video to the camera...but if this is important, go with a 240x320 display phone (like the Cingular 2125). Res is too low on this phone to be pleasing to the eye.
-Limited Bluetooth (can't move files)
-Can play music
-External speakers

Cons

-Need to do 'special code' to activate use of MP3's.
-Poor music file management and access.
-Can't use speaker phone while it's flipped close...ever.
-Video quality is poor.
-Limited Bluetooth (can't move files)

Over all I'm very happy with Amazon's excellent pricing and service in getting this phone to me. Verizon's service so far has been solid. The phone is just about everything I expected, but I'll probably upgrade in a year something jazzier.

[...]

If you have read any of my other reviews with cell phones my history begins with a VoiceStream Nokia(throwback bar style phone), Nextel i1000 Plus, SprintPCS Samsung VGA 1000 and T-Mobile Sidekick II, VZW Samsung a330, VZW Motorola v710, VZW Treo 700w,VZW Motorola Q, VZW Samsung A930, VZW LG 9800(the V), and now VZW LG 8300. This phone embodies style with the gun metal coloring and it's thinner than its previous version the LG 8100. Coming from a mini typewriter and 1 Smartphone and 1 PDA and various other mid sized cell phones, I think this phone is awesome. I love that I can still access Wireless Sync with my email and calendar(Get It Now catalog) to the phone and also Backup Assistant or WS my contacts to my phone. Then leaning towards the entertainment side....I have a MicroSD card with 89 songs and then 125 pix and 10 videos that I can transfer and use from phone to phone without a glitch. On top of everything the phone is VZ Navigator capable which is a life saver for a person with limited directional skills. For those who think you need the Vcast Music Essentials kit to get music on the phone, this isn't necessarily true. All you need is a Memory card reader and a PC that has a USB port, a memory card and you're good to go. On top of everything, a feature on the phone that is beautiful and not really discussed much is that this phone supports Bluetooth stereo headphones. I have the Moto H20's and they work like a charm! Plus even if you don't download music, V Cast Music is a great add-on! Imagine being in Best Buy and you see a CD that's packaged great and looks like it could be good music, all you need to do is launch V Cast music, search for the title or artists' name and sample the music before you buy the CD. Although, V Cast purchased from the handset can be a bit pricy @ $1.99, the benefit is that you get 2 different versions. One for the phone and one for the PC! However, if the music catalog is downloaded on your PC and you just want to sync to the phone later, you can purchase music at only $.99 just as you would in any other music store(Rhapsody, iTunes, MSN Music). V Cast, when you think about it, is really a great feature to have because all you need is a Verizon account and you don't actually have to have a V Cast capable phone to purchase the music! Then on top of that beautiful feature, you have V Cast video where you can actually watch live perfomances of artists (of course live but pre-recorded) and download music videos and watch video clips of some of your fav shows RIGHT ON THE PHONE!!!!! You want a laugh? Comedy Central! You want to see Flava Flava? VH1! You want news? CBS! You love Lupe Fiasco? Download Kick, Push video! What phone or cellular company offers this type of entertainment at the push of a button and all at your fingertips? Nothing in life is free but when that new song, artist or CD comes out and you're friends are clamoring to get off work to hear it....You've downloaded the entire album within a couple minutes :) Sweet!

The phone works well. Excellent service from Amazon. However, working with Verizon has been painful. They activated my phone with a new number on the date it "supposedly" shipped. I say supposedly, because it was a postal holiday. I called them when I got the notice re the new phone # and explained that I wanted to port my old # over. No problem, he would take care of it. However, the phone came with the new # and - I'll save you the painful details - it took about 2 hours total on the phone and a trip to the local store to finally get my old # ported over with "only" about 1/2 hour of non-coverage. Now I've received my first bill from Verizon and it includes a $35 activation fee which was supposed to be waived with a 2 year contract and a bill for coverage starting from the supposed ship date rather than received date. Sigh... Verizon said that Amazon has to credit the activation fee. I have dealt with some really nice, helpful people from both Amazon and Verizon, as well as some not so helpful ones from Verizon. However, be prepared to spend a LOT of time on the phone trying to straighten out the details.

Almost everything our spotlight reviewers, " Ronald M. Cronovich `Ron'" and "D. R. Jeanclerc `Reader, Listener & Obsessive Observer'", said in their reviews is dead-on. I just have a few things to add....

1. I need to emphasize just HOW annoying it is that Verizon is becoming increasingly rigid about their phone options. I had the LG VX6100 for 2 years and my ears were trained to know who was calling according to the ringtone playing. I pick up the 8300, and they have the worst selection of ringtones that are just different types of bleeps!
(If you really want to create your own ringtone - press down the Voice Memo button on the left side of the phone. You can record up to 1 min of whatever sound you want. Start recording the song about 1/2 sec before the point you want to record and stop 1/2 sec after - the phone tends to truncate the "edges" of the recording. Then, send a MMS to your phone - cost is $0.25 - and save it as a ringtone. Again, the phone seems to truncate the end portion by another 1/2 sec here. It may not be the best quality sound, but for $0.25 I don't mind getting a customized ringtone!)

2. On the 6100, I could still hear the vibrate mode when someone would call. With the 8300, it's not as prominent. For some, it's a pro, for others, a con.

3. I don't like that I do not have the option to have a simple looking menu like I had on the 6100.

4. In the 6100, sms was a bit different, too. Before, I had to click twice from the point I put in the number I was texting, to get to the text body area. In the 8300, as soon as I hit enter after putting in the number, it goes directly to the text body area. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'm just not used to it. I've sent many blank smses, ("pages"),so far because of doing that.
I do like that I can send the same text message to numerous people at the same time. That saves time.

5. The last thing - don't buy the Motorola Bluetooth H500 'kit' from Verizon. They tell you it's a great Bluetooth, but they are salesmen and working off commission, so can't really blame them. The H500 hurts the ears, is incredibly weird about pairing with this phone, as well as battery life fluctuations, and falls off if you bend your head down. For the same price, get a Plantronics 510! (Has much better reviews - google it.) I am telling you here because if you get this phone - you will most likely go into a Verizon store - where they will tell you that, a.) the 8300 is the best selling phone AND b.) the H500 package is an awesome deal and a great Bluetooth. Take it as you may.

The phone is good, especially since I am not paying $100+ for it. I just wish we could have the option of stripping what we individually didn't need, and keep things we really do want. But, that's asking for the impossible!

*Note - I really like Verizon Wireless. I've had Sprint, AT&T, Cingular, watched people with T-Mobile and Nextel. Every wireless company is essentially the same - a business, duh. With Verizon, the bells and whistles may cost more, but the coverage I get makes up for it GREATLY. I have made and received calls in buildings where no other carrier really works. And for the most part, customer service is comparable. Maybe not in store, but def phone support.

UPDATE: As of December, I have had this phone for 3-4 months. I still say it is an OK phone.
--I STILL am not used to smsing and keep sending blank smses - you know how it is - physical memory is hard to break!
--I don't like how I can't put the phone on vibrate from the side buttons.
--I was having this problem where I couldn't make/receive calls/smses/etc after 8pm for three nights in a row but the next morning, my phone would work. I think it may have been a tower problem.... Anyone else experience this?
--I wish I had my "quick alarm" option as before on the 6100. It was very convenient to quickly click on 10 minutes or 3 hours of alarm time, plus it gave me 4 alarms to work with instead of the 3 I have here.
--I wish a little bit of backlight would stay on for the front lcd so I wouldn't have blind my eyes looking at the time.
--Phone is bit slippery for me BUT it has been good to me without a cover and does not scratch easily.
***I like that I can turn the volume/vibrate mode off except for my alarms. VERY convenient.
***I like my "custom" ringtones, mainly cuz I get to choose what to record and it's a fraction of the Vcast cost! The sound is clear enough that I can enjoy them.
***I like that I have less dropped calls than everyone else on different networks. That makes me very happy!
***I like that the side buttons on this phone are not as susceptible to changing my ring mode as the 6100 was. My phone does not ring suddenly when I know I put it on vibrate.

I've been using VX8300 for a few months now and must say I am VERY disappointed with the phone. The call quality is poor (compared to much older Samsung phones that are being used in the same location), with many dropped calls. Advertised Bluetooth and MP3 player functionality is either crippled or not accessible. Specifically, Bluetooth doesn't support receiving/sending phone numbers, pictures or ringtones from other phones, doesn't support synchronization with a PC. Makes you look stupid when all of your friends can share photos over bluetooth with much older phones.

I found that out after I bought Bluetooth adapter for my PC. I also wanted to use the phone as an MP3 player and bought a 1Gb memory card for it, formatted it using the phone and put a few mp3 files on it. The phone refuses to play those, giving an error. There may be a way to fix it, but there's nothing about this in the manual. What IS in the manual is how to buy music, ringtones, clips from Verizon. In fact the phone menu is designed is an ad brochure with "GET PIX" and such being the most prominent choices. The rest of the menu is very inefficient. For instance, to set a wake-up alarm (something I do quite often), one has to scroll away from "GET PIX" to "Tools" (?) section, pick alarms and then go through a couple of additional screens where the time can actually be set.

I've switched from a 2yr old Sony Ericsson phone, and it amazes me that 2 years down the road the top phone from LG and Verizon is considerably worse than what I had. I have fewer features, it's a lot harder to use and sound quality is worse. After Sony Ericsson, LG VX8300, with built-in stereo speakers, huge letters, clunky navigation and poor functionality feels like it was designed by amateurs.

I've had this phone for about 1 1/2 weeks and it's been great. I almost switched from Verizon because of dropped calls with my last two phones (most recently a Samsung SCH-A670), but so far I have had no problems at all with this one. I've really enjoyed playing around with the extra features (music, videos, wallpapers), especially with the help of Bitpim. The camera is excellent for a cellphone--much better than my old Samsung. My only complaints are that it's a little bigger than I would like (probably because of the built-in stereo speakers) and that there's no "vibrate and then ring" feature (but I was able to solve that by adding a few seconds of silence to my ringtone and then uploading it to the phone). Also, it took a little work to get the "Music Essentials Kit" to work, but thanks to some tips I found on the web it's fine now.

I just got this phone in the mail today. In less than 5 minutes from opening the box I had the phone activated and called a friend. If you know how to use and activate phones it's very easy to start using the phone. I Love the menus, options etc. Overall, I can see I'm going to love it way more than the phone I upgraded from, which was two years old, and I loved that phone too!

I've had this phone for about a week. At first glance, it was so many lightyears better than the free phone T-Mobile had given me that I was overjoyed. Then I noticed some flaws. I'll summarize this as a pros and cons list.

PROS - Fabulous reception. The last time I had Verizon it dropped nearly all the calls at my house, so I was taking a big chance switching back because of the phone. Even with 1/2 a bar the connection quality was excellent. I heard everyone much more clearly and everyone noted that they heard me better as well. And, in NY, Verizon has a better overall coverage area, so I was happy. So far, so good.

I personally liked the way this phone feels next to my face and in my hand better than either the Chocolate or the Razr, but that's a matter of personal preference. For me the deal-killer with the Chocolate was the lack of speaker phone too.

I also like the way the phone book is set up. Everything seems intuitive and well thought out in general.

So far, so good, but the cons are a definite annoyance:

CONS - 1. Horrible battery life. This phone has a battery life like phones of 5 years ago. You need to charge every night, even on standby. Don't forget to get a car charger and keep it with you with this phone. This is probably the most disappointing thing about this phone, especially compared to the Nokias my friends have.

2. Horrible voice-commanded calling. I have yet to get this to work on the first shot. I bought a family plan so my elderly mother could use this - just push a button and say "call..." so she could call without having to figure out how to use the phone. I'm sorry that's not going to happen with this phone.

3. Iffy speakers - if you make them loud, there is a lot of distortion, but if you put them on medium it's fine.

4. Mp3 disabled - this goes under the general Verizon greed issue, but if you go to Ron's review, you'll see how to enable it - and you'll get annoyed when you see right on the phone that the "mp3 disable" is checked off. I enabled mine, so far so good.

So, if all you need is great reception definitely get this phone. This phone has the best reception of any phone I've had. Judging by other reviews, this isn't the case across the board, but my particular phone gets good reception and has excellent voice clarity on both ends.

And, beware, you CANNOT port your number and still get the equipment discount with any service provider on Amazon. However, there is a plus side on the Verizon end. You don't have to get bogged down in a 2 year contract anymore with Amazon either! That was good for me because I wasn't sure about the reception issue. So, I just called and emailed everyone with my new number, which is actualy easier to memorize than the other one was. I wrote this in a review that wasn't published, so lets see if they let this one slip in to this one. If not I'm complaining, because customers should know this before deciding whether to buy.

So, overall I am happy with the general things about the phone, but LG needs to address the voice command and battery issues especialy with this model before it will get 5 stars from me. I can live with any other little annoyances.







I bought this phone just yesterday. Like most others was totally floored when i first saw it but I did not know what was in store.
First things first. A phone has to be phone first. This phone will not pick signal even on the interstate. I stay in proper Atlanta and hence the signal especially from verizon should never have been a problem. Its been 12 hours + and I still dont have a signal. I am returning this phone to get something more basic and useful.


All the cons are as follows:

1) Also THE PHONE IS TOP HEAVY! A person with small hands will find it difficult to operate the side buttons. The font on hte main screen is small.
2) The font is small for the screen. Cannot make is large enough for those who are used to seeing cell phone for time.
3) Pathetic ringtones.
4) Not many short cuts

I was using a Nokia before and that phone is intelligently designed.

I agree with most of the comments by other users here.
The one area with which I have had problems is the voice command function.
I bought this phone for my wife to use while she commutes to work 40 miles each way on the interstate highway. I wanted voice command so she could use it "hands-free". I bought her a bluetooth ear piece for this purpose, also.
Since I am my wife's "IT support", when we got the phone home, I set up the bluetooth and tested it using voice commands to call my home phone and one other contact. This seemed to work fine.
Now, however, when my wife uses voice command, the software hardly recognizes any of her commands. My wife does not have any kind of accent, nor do any of her contacts have difficult-to-pronounce or weirdly-spelled names. One of the ones it has problems with is "Ed". No last name, just "Ed".
When I try it, the voice command works perfectly, including "Ed". Verizon tech support told me it was because I was the first voice the phone heard when voice command was used for the first time. I don't know if this is true (It wouldn't be the first time I have gotten bogus information from any tech support.)
There is the ability to train the Voice Command in the Tools-Voice Command-Settings menu, so she did that and now it works better, but still not as well as it does for me.
Therefore, I would caution users to not test the Voice Command software for the first time if you are not the primary user of the phone.

This is the fourth cell phone I have had over the years. I've previously had Samsung, Nokia, and NEC.

LOOK
The phone is really nice. It's a dark grey color. Both screens are in color and everything is easy to read. It has large buttons that are easy to push, too.

RECEPTION/SERVICE
I recently spent the weekend traveling all over Ohio and I had great service everywhere. The phone connected every call quickly and never dropped a call. I receive every call and text message that is sent my way. Every caller is very clear and easy to hear. The reception is fantastic.

VOLUME
Every phone I have ever had or ever talked on, I always wished I could turn it up louder. The ringers were always too low even on max and the callers always seemed too quiet. On this phone, I have to turn the volume down to medium. If I turn it all the way up, I can still hear the caller loud and clear, I just need to hold the phone a foot away from my ear in order to avoid breaking it :). So I love the fact that the volume is loud. The ringtones are also super loud. I can hear it ringing in my bedroom when I'm in the basement or in my car when I've got the music blasting.

PHONEBOOK
New numbers are very easy to add. You can go to your contact list and add a new contact that way. You can type the number in like your going to dial it and save it that way. Or you can go to your call list (dialed, received, or missed) and save a number from there. You then type in the name, and you can save up to 5 numbers per entry. You can set a speed dial, a group, a ringtone, a picture, and a text messaging alert for each contact. You can type in a letter or a part of the name to access someone quickly. It takes just one click to get into your list of contacts.

TEXT MESSAGING
By default, it is set to Abc (I hate it, but every phone is). You can change it to Word (T9 predictive text), ABC, 123, or Symbols. Sending a new text and responding to a text is very simple and easy to use. You can also easily send pictures (and you can add sound to the pictures) or you can send a video clip. All are very easy to do. You can also send each text message to up to 10 different contacts. Quite nice if you want to send out a bulk message!!

CAMERA
It has a nice 1.3 megapixel camera. The pictures look pretty good for coming from a phone. You can change the shutter sound to: silent, normal shutter sound, ready 123, or say cheese! It has a self-timer and a flash. You can turn the flash on or off and it will remember your setting, you won't have to turn the flash on every time you want to use it. You can the option to save or erase any picture you take. The button to access the camera is on the right side of the phone. Press once for camera and twice for video. You can also adjust the white balance and the brightness as well as the resolution and color mode (color, sepia, b&w, negative, solari, vivid. There is also a night mode which you can set to on or off. And you can decide if you want the front screen to also act as a camera. Nice for taking self portraits! And its really easy to save, send, and erase every picture. When you go to view you pictures, they show up as tiny thumbnails so you don't have to deal with filenames and such, you can just see the picture. But you can rename them if you wish.

MUSIC
Yes, this phone can play MP3's. Verizon will tell you that you can only play Window's Media Player files because they like to try to scam you for money. Just go to menu, hit 0, enter all 0's for the service code, and scroll down to 11. Music Setting. In there, select MP3 Enable. Viola! I got the Music Essentials kit which comes with a USB cable to hook your phone to your computer, the software you need, and headphones to use with your phone (regular ones won't work). You can then upload MP3's onto your phone. It has a forward, backward, and play/pause button on the front. I haven't tried to use the MP3's as ringtones yet but that would be a very nice option.

RINGTONES
They suck :). But if you don't care about ringtones, then no big deal. I really hope that you can put your MP3's on your phone and use them as ringtones. Or there are website out there that let you make your own ringtones from your own MP3's. I was too lazy and just paid the $2 a song for the stupid Verizon ones. But the three that I got all sound great!

CUSTOMIZATION
You can set the clock to multiple different ways. I set mine to digital because its really big and easy to read. The wallpapers aren't too bad either. I found one with bubbles getting big and little floating around and its pretty cool. You can also customize the menu. Mine is called "Pulse" and I love it. It looks really really neat. You can also change the color scheme.
So.. you can change the front wallpaper, main wallpaper, front clock, main clock, display themes, front banner, main banner, and big font/normal font. You can also change the power on/off sounds, alert sounds, and keypad volume. You can also have a different ringtone for caller ID, no caller ID, restricted calls, and all calls. Needless to say, you can basically customize the phone to look however you want.

BATTERY LIFE
I use my cell phone as an alarm, so I have it next to my bed everynight. So I just plug it in while I'm sleeping. I've never tried to let it go multiple days. But it has a full battery at night unless I spent the day taking tons of pictures/videos. I also have a car charger which is quite nice.

OTHER FEATURES
It has three separate alarm clocks, that you can set to go off just one time, to go off daily, to go off Mon-Fri, or just on the weekends. And you can set it to any ringtone. It has a calendar with reminders, a world clock, voice commands, a notepad, a calculator, an EZ Tip Calculator, security (password protected), customizeable shortcuts, and more!

CALLS
While on the phone, you can access basically everything on your phone. You can access your contact list and the menu. So I suppose you could send a text message while on the phone if you really wanted to! You can also record while on the phone and listen to it later. Or possibly send it as an attachment to a pix message.

SPEAKERPHONE
It is loud and easy to hear. I'll drive with the phone on my lap while chatting on speakerphone and I can hear the caller great and the caller can hear me great. It's a nice feature and there is a button on the phone to turn it on and off. An icon shows up on the bottom of both screens when speakerphone is on so you won't accidently have speakerphone on and not know it.

I basically spent countless hours researching every single phone Verizon had to offer. So many phones had so many complaints and this one seemed to have the least amount of them. We bought 4 of them, one of each person in our family, and I got my boyfriend one too. All 5 of us love the phones. The buttons are big and easy to push, the phone is very attractive, the reception is fantastic, the volume is very loud, and the phone is very simple to navigate while having a lot of cool features, including a nice 1.3 megapixel camera!! The removeable memory is also a nice feature, as well as buttons for the camera, volume up/down, and the voice commands!!

Don't waste time browsing other phones or trying out a cheapie -- they are no good, I've been there. Even my boyfriend (who is 24) and swore he'd never get a cell phone cuz he hated them loves it.


:::::::UPDATE:::::::
*I am still loving the phone. I have figured out how to default T9 (Word) text, or whatever else you'd like defaulted. I have also purchased a 1 gig microSD card. I just stuck the card into the adaptor and stuck that into my computer. Transferred some songs and pictures and had them all on my phone! Why buy the LG Chocolate when the VX8300 can play MP3's too? My only real complaint is the lack of a service light. I have no idea if I have a missed call, a voicemail, a msg, etc without lighting up the phone. But in comparison to the other availabilities, it is a minor flaw. Every other detail of this phone way surpassed every other phone on the market. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The phone is great! Great! Plus, I did some research and was able to override some features so that I can create custom ringtones for free. Just google search the phone and visit the forums.

Overall, I love this phone.

I recently switched from t-mobile to verizon because my husband always complained about my phone, and how he couldn't understand me. He was looking for a second phone in addition to his nextel, so we decided on verizon because of their excellent coverage area, and we got a large shared plan. I chose this phone based on it's great reviews, and I finally have everything I've ever wanted in a phone. Here are some things I love:
You can assign a caller ID picture and it shows up on the outside display too!
Everything is very customizable, from colors and displays, wallpapers and sounds.
I can assign a different ringtone to anyone I want, and it sounds amazing.
The camera works really well, and it also has lots of options to change brightness and quality.
The menu was different than I was used to, but I think in the end it's actually more user friendly.
The audio quality of phone calls is outstanding! everyone can hear me, and I can hear them.

I've made one call to verizon tech support with a question, and it was the best call I've ever made to a customer support center. The person was friendly, helpful, and did a perfect job helping me with several issues.

Here is my one compaint. I was told in the store that I could get on verizon wireless online and download ringtones to my phone. Not true. On this phone you have to access the Get It Now ringtones through the phone and browse them that way. All this and it uses up your airtime minutes while doing so. I could browse music for hours before I find what I want in a ringtone, and I was not happy about having to use my minutes to do so. Plus it is so much harder to do all that on a phone as opposed to on a computer. Just another way for verizon to make a buck I guess. My solution? Make my own ringtones. If you have any audio editing software, you can take an mp3, select a small clip of it, save it that way, and then email it to your phone. When you open the message you can choose as an option to save it as a ringtone! It's great! I think you can even use voice recordings as ringtones.
So in conclusion, I love this phone, and I just hope I continue to get good service with Verizon, and that I continue to find ways around the things I don't like.

UPDATE: I've read that not everyone with this phone is able to make and recieve ringtones in this way. Apparently verizon had disabled the phones capability to play mp3's. Yet my phone, as well as some others who have it are able to play mp3s. Weird. I guess I lucked out.

ITS A NICE PHONE EASY TO USE BUT VERY BAD BATTERY LIFE YOU HAVE TO CHARGE IT EVERY NIGHT!!

I got this phone as a gift for my birthday. It is my first cell phone (never had much use for one), and it looks rather expensive. People have already noticed my phone and asked to look at it. The features are great and the setup was easy. I didn't consult my manual more than a couple of times. The only downside is the awful ringtones. I had to pay a couple of bucks and now my phone rings to AC/DC's "Back in Black."

So it's time for a new phone. I see tons of ads for the Razr and it sounds like a heck of a phone so that is the first phone I check out. Hmmm, looks great, very stylish. But, I don't care for the way it feels in my hand. So I go online and start checking out reviews for it and other phones. Someone suggest the LG VX8300. I check this out. Wow!! It may not look quite as stylish as the Razr but it's a great, feature packed phone. And the reviews tend to be much better than the ones for the Razr. So I got the VX8300 and couldn't be happier with it.

Yes, Verizon cripples it in numerous ways but there is lots of info on the net to get around this. I love this phone. Great reception, call quality, music sounds decent considering the size of the twin speakers. The odd size headphone jack is a problem but Amazon sells a Headphone Adapter for $3.99.

The 1.3mp camera is great compared to older phones with vga. No, it won't replace your brand new 7mp camera but the pictures are clear and look good.

The phone comes with mp3 playback disabled but it is simple to enable. Follow the instructions given by Ron in his review. It works and doesnt harm your phone in any way.

Get the micro-sd card.There are many places you can get a card at a much lower price than Verizon. With it you can transfer music and pictures from your pc to your phone and vice-versa. You can also play your videos from your pc but you will need a conversion program. I use "3gp converter". Search the net for it. Put the videos on your flash card and show your home movies away from home. Keep in mind that the screen is tiny and not meant for a large audience. But it's great for its size.

Yes, the ringtones that come with the phone leave much to be desired. There are many ways to get new ones, both free and paid. Once again, search the net.

[...].




I agree with most of the positive reviews people have written here. This is a very good phone. However, there's more you need to know before you shell out your hard-earned cash for this phone.

First, I will describe negative things that other reviewers have not adequately covered. I do not mean to discourage you, but just to help you know what you're getting into. Then, I will share some tips I've learned that will help you get more from your phone, and maybe save a few bucks.

Yes, the phone has tons of features, but using most of them costs extra.

For example, to use the built-in MP3 player, you must do one of the following two things:

1) Purchase songs from VCAST ($1.99 per song!!! Twice as much as iTunes!)

2) Move songs from your computer to the phone, which requires that you purchase a $30 "Music essentials kit". This kit contains a USB cable, drivers, and stereo earphones.

If you want to use your own stereo earphones or headset, you must purchase a $15 adapter from Verizon, because the built-in earphone jack is not the standard size.

Enough about the MP3 player, let's talk about the videos. You can download music videos and clips from your favorite TV shows (and there are MANY TV shows with clips available). This is especially good for shows like The Daily Show and Colbert Report, because a 2 minute clip contains something complete. With a show like Lost or Desperate Housewives, a 2-minute clip is not really enough. The quality of these video clips is impressive for a phone. But here's the rub: To use this feature of the phone, you have to pay an extra monthly fee ($15 for the most common plan), PLUS an extra fee for each music video!!!

The phone has a web browser that is similar in quality and functionality to the web browsers on most phones. Using it will cost you an extra $5/month, or "free" if you have the $15/month VCAST subscription.

The selection of ringtones included with the phone is PATHETIC. This is LG's most expensive phone, it really should have more ringtones (and less embarrassing ones!). Of course, you can download ringtones from Verizon's "Get It Now" service - for an extra fee. And if you read the fine print, you are not BUYING these extra ringtones - you are RENTING them - you have to pay the fee once every year to keep using the ringtones you download! Ripoff.

Here's one more negative:

The screen on the front of the phone, while of course much smaller than the main screen when you open the phone, still has plenty of room to show useful information when the phone is closed. However, when someone calls you, their caller ID information only appears on the bottom line of this display - and in a VERY small font. While I don't encourage anyone to use their phone while driving, let's face it, most people do. And this makes it hard for people to see who's calling them while they are driving. (Or working out at the gym, or doing whatever.)

I've described a lot of negatives or extra costs here, and I don't mean to make you think this isn't a great phone. It really is a great phone.

And the thing about the extra costs is not unique to this phone or to Verizon. Most hi-end phones from most carriers have similar extra costs for using their fancy features. Unfortunately, most reviews of these phones don't give the prospective buyer a sense of the true costs of buying and using these phones.

I've learned some cool things about this phone that can save you a few bucks. Much of this applies to other phones, as well.

First, this phone has Bluetooth. If your Windows computer has bluetooth (most laptops come with it), download the free program "bitpim" (google to find it). Bitpim lets your phone communicate with your PC. For example, you can edit your phone's address book on your PC. I find it much easier to use my PC to add email addresses to each of my contacts than to enter their email addresses on the phone. You can also import any JPG photo from your PC into Bitpim, which will transfer it to your phone. I love the photo caller ID feature of the VX8300 (which most mid-range to high-end phones have), and bitpim makes it easy to get lots of photos on the phone. Bitpim also compresses the photo and lets you crop it so that it is the right size for your phone's LCD screen, and doesn't take up much of your phone's memory. Bitpim is a reliable program, free of spy-ware and viruses, and will not mess up your computer or phone!

Next, ringtones. There are several web-based services that allow you to create your own ringtone from any song in your collection of music CDs or MP3/AAC/WMA files. You upload the song, and the service allows you to select exactly which portion of the song to use as your ringtone; then the service emails the ringtone to your phone. Most of these services charge $1.50 per ringtone, which is less than Verizon charges for their ringtones.

The service I recommend is called MYXERTONES.com, because they start you off with two free ringtones, and only charge $6 to buy 5 ringtones. They also give you other options for getting more free ringtones. And they don't put spyware on your computer or phone, or have pop-up ads.

Another tip. Get a microSD card, but don't buy it from Verizon!

If your computer has a card reader, you can load photos and MP3s directly onto the card from your computer, then install the card into the phone. Card readers are cheap - Amazon and Best Buy have a variety of inexpensive ones.

Do not buy the microSD card from Verizon - they charge WAY TOO MUCH!!! For example, Verizon charges $50 for a 512kb card. I just purchased a 1GB card from an online retailer for $20 after rebate.

If you want to use your phone to listen to songs, the phone's internal memory will only hold a couple songs, so you really need this card to use the phone's MP3 player functionality.

Last tip: Some reviewers have said this phone will only play songs in the WMA format. That is what the manual says. However, you can set the phone to play MP3 files as well, using an undocumented command. To do this, press OK (to access the main menu), then press 0, then enter all 0s for the service code, then scroll down to "music settings" and select "MP3 Enable". Don't worry that this feature is undocumented, you won't mess up your phone, I promise! Me and lots of other people have done this.

Why would Verizon hide the fact that this phone can play MP3 files? My guess is that Verizon probably has a commercial arrangement with Microsoft, which gets a fee every time you purchase a song in WMA format. Verizon has designed the phone so that you have to use Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 to manage and transfer music to your phone, and Windows Media Player 10 has one-button access to an online music store that sells songs in WMA format.


This phone is great! It has a great look on the outside, and it's features are even better on the inside. I love the mp3 player. I don't use V Cast because it's a waste of money because I already have many songs. I use a microSD/Transflash 512 mb. and it works great! You can listen/view/transfer music, pictures, and videos. The phone is not mp3 ready out of the box but get instructions online and your set. I've learned that to transfer songs, you have to convert songs to wma. I've tried that and it works on the card, but when I transfer it there's an error and it won't play. It's not a big deal though. I love this phone and I strongly recommend it.

This is my first phone and it's great! It is a little confusing to use sometimes but after having it for about a week you get used to it. The battery last a long time as well although it can get hot so I would not recomend having it on all the time. My dad has bad hearing but even he can hear when it rings from the next room. The voice command is a little messed up but I can deal with that. The camra isn't all that great but it works and the services is good considering I live out in the middle of no where. Getting music isn't as easy as some make it out to be. You have to be in certain areas in order to get songs big cities mainly. Overall its a great phone.

I have had this phone for almost a month now (buy one get one free deals). Works GREAT!! Very user friendly controls and fits perfectly in my hands. It has loud speaker, decent camera and bug free software.

The receptoin is good but not great. The only downside is that it only works with the digital network but verizon reps told me that they're converting/adding many more digital towers around the country and will retire analog towers.

Get this phone!

I have had this phone for a few days now and I love it. The only bad thing about this phone right now is the fact that there is a very limited choice of accessories. But this is not to big of a deal, I will just have to wait till LG and Verizon come out with the stuff I want for this thing.

I love this phone, ive only had it for about 3 weeks, but it gets great reception everywhere. you can make and receive calls with zero bars, it has a microsd slot for up to a gig of music(but i think the 2gb microsd cards will be in stores by the end of the year) and dual color screens, you will need to reenable the mp3 player though, because verizon only lets you use vcast music. and it doesnt have the annoying red color theme that plagued the 8100s

This thing is just great. Have had it for about two weeks now and am very impressed with it in just about every way.

The sound quality is excellent for both parties. The same holds for this phone when using speakerphone. This is definitely a feat considering the electrical requirements of a loud, clear speakerphone. It also allows for very good pickup so the person you're talking to won't even know they're on speakerphone. This phone has two great speakers which boast a remarkable amount of sound (even in the low-frequency response range, surprisingly). When you download or transfer MP3s, you may notice the sound actually comes in stereo (two-channel) output. This makes the songs you play sound even better.

The camera is also quite incredible. Its ability to take 1.3 megapixel shots is uncanny. Definitely better than my first digi-cam. This is without a doubt the first and only phone camera I have seen that takes pictures actually worth saving and printing. Even the RAZR's VGA resolution doesn't touch the 1280x960 resolution. VGA is 640x480, which computes to a mere 0.31 megapixels. This is exactly 4 times more pixels per shot!! You can full-screen your shot on a computer and still retain full screen quality.

Many other great features abound, including the MicroSD expansion slot. I have a 1GB MicroSD card in the mail (do not confuse with MiniSD which is actually much bigger than the pinky nail-sized Micro card). I will then be able to get several hundred songs on here for free, rather than paying $15/mo. for verizon's lame VCast service which only lets you download songs they specify. Another irritating thing about verizon is that they limit this phone's bluetooth capabilities. They do this so that users cannot share ringtones and pics for free in a peer-to-peer manner -- you must get it through the network, which requires the monthly fee. However, this phone has more bluetooth profiles enabled than any other under verizon. Play/pause, next, and previous buttons on front side allow you to choose music with the thing shut - VERY cool. Also, cool flash UIs - this phone actually allows you to change display themes, not just colors. This means entirely differently operating menus and the works. Finally, the interface is very condusive to easy use. It gives supreme functionality without making anything confusing or overwhelming. In other words, if you are a power-user interested in implementing all of this phone's features, you will be happy at how much there is and how easy to use. On the other hand if you are someone who just wants the essentials (1 phone number per contact, etc.), you won't be confused by an over-complicated interface design.

The only complaint I have is regarding the service (Verizon). The phone itself is phenominal and hasn't given me one problem. It features top-end technology in a very attractive unit. I just hope I don't bust it in the next two years, although i probably will, lol.

The LG VX8300 is the latest offering in the market for do-(almost)-it-all cell phones. It combines all of the standard phone functionality with music and video playback and phone, making it a media powerhouse considering that it's such a portable, affordable package. The next step up would be a smartphone, but at significant extra cost for the addition of more well-rounded PDA functions.

THE PHONE
The first thing you'll notice about the 8300 is that it's a great-looking piece of tech - stylish and modern yet also subdued enough that it won't embarrass you in business settings. Some pictures make it look black, but it is actually a deep metallic pewter color. It's roughly the same size (3.5 x 1.9 x 0.9) as LG's other recent clamshell phones, although a little slimmer for easier pocketing. It feels solid but not heavy at 3.9 oz with the standard battery. The plastic case feels softer than prior models, so it may be more susceptible to scratches and scrapes over time. There is a leather case for it, but I doubt you could bear the idea of covering up this good-looking unit.

The 8300 runs on Verizon's CDMA all-digital network, so coverage may be an issue if you live in rural areas. I've been a Verizon customer for years with LG digitals and never run into any dead spots around town and while traveling, but check Verizon's coverage maps on their website beforehand.

Voice clarity is superb, both for you and for the person you're calling. The 8300 has speakerphone capability, but amplified through the external audio speakers, it tends to be so loud that it may distort - set your volume appropriately low.

The phone has a wide array of conveniences, including numerous handy voice-activated commands (send messages, check voice mail, look up contact, examine wireless account, etc.), one-touch calling, unique rings and photo IDs for different contacts, an address book with room for 500 contacts, and so on. I'm a huge proponent of the voice-activated commands, and while the 8300 is very easy to set up, the long-term downside is that instead of matching up your command with your own prerecorded voice as prior models did, this phone tries to actually phonetically "read" entries from your contacts list and find a match that way. So, if you have unusually-spelled names with silent letters in your contacts list, the 8300 will have a tough time making a match. Plus, when it repeats the name back to you, it generally mangles the pronunciation, making that form of caller ID undesirable. It's too bad that the contacts list doesn't have a separate "nickname" field so that you could accurately store the contact as say, "Mike Krzyzewski" but have the voice-activated commands look the entry up as "Coach", for example.

If you're obsessive about ringtones, then you'll be disappointed with the default offerings. They play back with great quality, but they're pretty boring. Verizon clearly wants you to go to their GetItNow service to purchase the latest and flashiest ringtones. It's not documented in the manual, but it is possible to use MP3s loaded into the phone as ringtones.

The phone supports Bluetooth v.1.1, which makes it easily compatible with many wireless devices like headsets/earpieces. You can also use this to wirelessly transmit and receive contact information with other Bluetooth devices.

THE CAMERA
I bought my first digital camera about five years ago - a 1.3 megapixel Olympus for about $350. Now, for a fraction of the price and space, the 8300 delivers that same picture quality. It's also got additional features that make the results actually worth viewing/printing, including flash, white balancing for a variety of lighting conditions (no more washed out or oddly-tinted phone pics), a four-position digital zoom, and night mode. There are also some capabilities for having fun with your photos such as special effects (negative, posterize, etc.), self-portrait capability using the external screen as a viewfinder, and a timer. You can take pictures from 160x120 thumbnails all the way up to print-quality 1280x960.

The camera can also take videos, although the quality is predictably choppy and the largest clip that can be sent via email is only 15 seconds. Like any of the phone's media, larger clips can be stored to the phone's internal memory or onto an optional microSD card and then copied to another device or PC.

Photos taken can be used as contact IDs or wallpaper on either the external or main screen. Both screens are breathtaking in their brightness, clarity and resolution. They never fail to register the initial jaw-dropping compliment when someone sees the phone for the first time.

MUSIC PLAYER
You can't really say MP3 player because the 8300 wants to only play files in Microsoft's .wma format. This is because Verizon wants you to use their VCast online music store. I purchased the Music Essential Pack with my phone and was sorely disappointed in this - the VCast software wouldn't load (it kept trying to roll me back to Windows Media Player 10 even though I'm on 11), the USB cable kept losing connection (crummy driver software), and the headphones were just so-so. I recommend instead investing in a big MicroSD card and using it to store and transfer all of your music, photos and videos. This is clearly the easiest way to load information back and forth between the phone, although Verizon won't tell you that since it cuts their overpriced music store out of the loop. And if you do prefer MP3s for playback, the 8300 may not be configured out of the box to play them, but it's a simple change to make - just search the web for instructions.

The sound for playback is very good, again considering that it's not a dedicated music device. The external stereo speakers are on either side of the clamshell hinge and they pump out a lot of sound for their size. The 8300 has a very good ergonomic feature in the form of player control buttons (play/pause, fast forward, rewind) on the outside face of the phone. So, you can keep it in the palm of your hand rather than flipped open while listening.

BUSINESS/PRODUCTIVITY
The 8300 comes with the standard roster of business apps dumbed down for cell phone usage: calendar, world clock, calculator with tip macros, etc. At this time, I haven't found an easy way to sync data back and forth with any desktop apps like Outlook or Notes. There are open source apps on the Web like Bitpim that can do this, but the 8300 is currently too new for that software to handle. That gap should be remedied soon.

Verizon offers wireless broadband via an EV-DO network that includes most major metropolitan areas and airports.

One exceptional add-on that Verizon offers is VZ Navigator, which turns the 8300 into a GPS-driven navigation device. You can purchase the add-on either monthly if you do a lot of traveling by car or even day-to-day if you're just taking a short trip. It works well, looks great, and really boosts the usefulness of this unit.

CONCLUSION
The LG VX8300 combines a great phone, a camera that's actually useful and some pretty cool media capabilities into one compact unit. There are of course some trade-offs for each, but the convenience of only having to carry one slim item in your pocket is invaluable. It really is a marvel for the price.


PROS
* A very clear phone with many convenient features like voice-activated commands.
* A 1.3 megapixel camera capable of taking pictures you'd actually have printed thanks to 1280x960 resolution, flash, and color effects.
* A good-sounding music player that, when combined with your own library on an optional microSD card, puts hours of entertainment in your pocket.
* Bluetooth capability for wireless add-ons and communication with other devices.


CONS
* Incompatible with existing accessories - get ready to buy new chargers, sync cables, etc.
* VCast music store is overpriced and not easy to set up (just get a microSD card and use it to store/transfer media instead - no problem).
* Initial selection of ringtones is pretty dull - another attempt by Verizon to squeeze extra charges out of you.
* Some of the external buttons are awkwardly sized and/or placed - people with larger hands may cramp up after prolonged periods of use.